Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Meal of Love

I celebrate Valentine's Day in. Snuggled up, laughing in the kitchen, sharing a bottle of wine, wearing pajamas, IN. Honestly, just the idea of eating out on Valentine's Day is painful to me. All those people, all the reservation drama, all the elbows at too-close tables? While I'm a split personality extrovert/introvert, I am decidedly introverted every February 14. Last night was no exception. We made a glorious meal, so yummy that I thought I'd share it here.

We loved this meal so much, I decided to feature these recipes all week long. It'll also give me a chance to give shout-outs to some of my favorite food bloggers whose posts inspired our meal.

Cooking a meal together, it seems, is our established Valentine's Day tradition. We added an additional element this year: cooking something new... but more on that soon. Any Valentine's Day food traditions in your house?

Update: This is too good not to share. Francis Lam continues to delight me to no end, as he live-blogs the top internet searches for Valentine's Day restaurant meals. Hilarity found here.

4 comments:

We never eat out on Valentine's Day - I like to cook and actually use a serving platter or a piece of china or two!

And I'm actually kind of digging our trend this year of eating out for my birthday on the 12th instead of the 13th... we got WAAAAY fewer "so, celebrating V-Day early?" inquiries / "sucks for you, buddy, for being late on your reservations" looks this year by celebrating on Friday instead of the 13th!

I couldn't agree more. We have never gone out on Valentine's Day. One year we had scallops and risotto with wild mushrooms; another year we had stuffed clams and chocolate martinis. This year, however, we kept it very simple with homemade pizzas and sweet and salty cake. There's nothing more romantic than a candlelight dinner in the comfort of your own home and cuddling on the couch for a movie afterward! Happy belated Valentine's Day to you and T.

I agree - dinner in is the way to for Valentine's Day. I made Brian's favorite meal, chili. Not so romantic but it made him happy. And that's what Valentine's is all about. I'm looking forward to your recipes, that looks like a great meal!